Now is the Hour [Connor Harrison]

[Coci Heavenshield]

She stopped dead in her trackers and slowly turned around to face Connor. "Don't you dare tell me what to do", she said to him as coldly as any voice could, her eyes flickered between her natural colour and yellow. Abaigeal is Angry with him for not allowing the Joy to take him over and simply live in the moment, but the people around them had started crying, the laughter replaced with grief.

"Save us?", she lifted her voice slightly, "You need to do nothing but save yourself, isn't that what you do best?". She turned away from him and walked toward the Temple. But she would never reach the steps.

The landscaped shifted once more, Connor and Abaigeal would feel their bodies lift into the air and travel at great speed down a tunnel akin to that of hyperspace, the speed as equal but they are in no ship. When the shift had finished, Abaigeal stood atop one of the tall rock spires alone with no sign of Connor anywhere. Connor would find himself in the same situation miles away from Abaigeal and alone with the hard wind whipping around him strong enough to send him off the edge. The two would now experience their trial of Anger and face many demons that live under their skin waiting to surface to remove their solace of mind.

Abaigeal stood turning in place to try and find anything in the distance, she saw nothing...

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[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

Again, before he could respond, their location melted away into a swirling vortex that soon bled into rocky terrain, high hanging clouds and a dry humidity in the air. Connor was on his hands and knees atop a large pinnacle, overlooking the clouds below and the copper sky. Abaigeal wasn’t beside him, or behind him – he span around, automatically throwing out his hands to get his balance against the harsh wind that was battering him.

Squinting, he tried to see a way out, but he couldn’t. But maybe there was no way out – he was riding this disorientating speeder journey through locations he didn’t recognise, until the next trick was played and took him away to the next.

This was a waste of time – he shouldn’t have trusted Abaigeal. She was corrupted by the Sith, that much was clear, and now she was leading Connor on a dead-end journey, insulting the memory of her mother, Iella.

His arms lowered and he stood looking out, moving his body as needed against the wind and to keep his footing. There were many pinnacles in the distance and around, but no-one else. She had left him. She had tricked him. She had manipulated him by acting the fool and now he was here.

He was angry, and wanted nothing more than to cut her down and end the venomous poison that ran through her blood. She was a liar, and a vindictive girl who didn’t deserve his help to honour her mother.

Connor knelt, hands splayed on the rock to avoid falling, and kept looking out, watching for something – anyone – anything…

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She knelt down, trying her best to grip hold on anything that would stop her from falling off the edge of his spire of rock. Her eyes lowered fixed on one single stone as her mind filled with anger, so much anger had been buried away deep in the recesses of her heart and mind. "Why did you have to be a Jedi?", she spoke aloud, the question to her mother. "Why did you have me, this .. this .. monster that I am. Gave birth to me with the blood of this evil running through me? you must have known! you must have realised what you would give life to?',

"How could you do this to me?", she yelled, but her voice did not carry beyond the immediate area. It was like being in a vacuum. Abaigeal felt the sith blood rising in her, beginning to boil with the essence of anger. She did her best to fight it, to push it away but it is strong in her and still to be controlled. It would be something she would have to live with for the rest of her life, living with a time bomb.

"I hate you for this!", she yelled to her mother. "You made me a target for the likes of him, simply by giving birth to me". She refers to Kaine of course and tears began to well and fall to the dust on the ground. "Why did you send us here?, to this forsaken place so we can relive every single pain that we have experienced in life, what is this purpose mother?".

"Connor?", she stood up and looking out across a field of rock, nothing in sight at all, she can not even sense him. "He has left me just like you did".

[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

”Come on. Enough!” Connor spat the words to himself as he looked over the dizzying edge of the pinnacle.

What was stopping him seeing if he would fall and fall – if this was a dream he’d awaken back on Voss, or land softly without pain and probably find that whelp Abaigeal again. There was no way this was real because he’d experienced things like this before, and they all turned out to be nothing but nightmares.

But the Netherworld was real, wasn’t it? He’d experienced a Force ability like nothing he’d experienced before – teleportation. Looking at one place to suddenly being there in the blink of an eye through a wall of crackling energy. Now he couldn’t even figure out where he was.

”You’ve got to get a grip! Use the power! Be something great and take control! You can shape the galaxy again for the Light and show them what you are!”

Connor twisted his head and pulled his fingers through the grit to fold into his palm.

”STOP…this! You are nothing! Not a God, not a Master! Just be ME! STOP THINKING…YOU’RE….SOMETHING!”

The frustration of his warring ego was bubbling away, and only one could win – the ego who wanted to be God, or the ego who wanted to be nothing. Was there even a middle ground? He looked up and sat on his knees, lolling his head back.

”Trust in the Force,” he sighed.

And with that, he rolled his head forward, and then his body, and took himself over the edge of the pinnacle to let gravity decide if this was a nightmare or a soon-to-be-bloodied reality. He'd tried to take his life before but failed. Now, the Force would decide if he was going to succeed or fail at that task again.

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She let the anger fill her, her breath hard and puffing out her chest to the full, and it all felt good. It is empowering to be angry, the force pumping through her veins thick with the dark side of the force, bubbling under her skin pull power from the essence of it. Her blue eyes flashed yellow, it is all to easy much to easy after all, it is her blood. Abaigeal lifted her head turning her face skyward to allow the darkness to wash over her and for a moment she wallowed in it.

But her mind, it was not taken. The memories of her family all together and happy played out before her, the fun and laughter, excitement and uncertainty coming after them with steps only a few behind them. Not just for the family but the Jedi Order, she remembered the corridors of that great Temple on Coruscant now reduced to rumble, the power of the light within the very walls, not to mention those that lived there. Tython, the push pull of the Ashla and Bogan each one having its time as the time progressed, the force itself residing around that planet in which today Bogan is in the ascendancy.

Iella's face formed in her mind, the love shown through her eyes looking into hers and she remembered. The last time she saw her mother, standing high on that balcony her White Dragon fighting for the life of her daughter. She knew, they both did .. that only one would leave alive.

Abaigeal dropped to her knees and cried, rivers of tears. And with each teardrop her anger vanished and slowly replacing it was responsibility. No longer can she blame others or herself for what had happened, it was time she owned it, accepted it, and time to change the course of time. Time to take responsibility for ones actions and not blame others for them, time to make a choice and she chose to be, Jedi.

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[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor felt weightless for all of a few seconds before he crunched down on a hard surface. Puzzled, he opened his eyes as they were closed tight, and looked – he was on another pinnacle. Turning over, he glanced up to see nothing but sky – and down below nothing but an endless drop, and all around him more pinnacles of various heights.

Then he laughed and titled his head back. Actually grateful he hadn’t fallen to his death, but confused as to what mind game this was.

Was it nothing but his subconscious, playing out scenarios with him metaphorically? He’d tried to take his life but simply ended up back where he had started. Another chance to stop being a child and act like a man – a Jedi.

”If this is your doing Iella, I don’t like it. But thank you,” he said to whomever was listening.

He was glad to still be here, but here only meant in this dream world – this world created by an external power. The two were probably passed out at the bottom of a ravine where they had fallen and now infused with the Force and raging emotions taking them on his ride.

”Abaigeal is a good kid. She’s helped me find this place, and if you’re out there, then be proud of her. I see a defining life ahead for that one.”

Sitting up, Connor rested his elbows on his knees and felt his heart beat begin to slow as it was racing from what he thought he had done.

”And if you are listening...care to show me a way down from this place?”

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Connor Harrison would not get a reply from Iella. Although she is there, watching them both, her connection to them through the force allows her to travel within that plain but she cannot interfere or guide them. This test is their's alone. Her heart broke sensing the emotions of guilt and anger from her daughter, she felt it too having lied to her about the outcome back on Panatha. But she had to, knowing that Abaigeal would never have left and gotten away from Kaine .. they both knew deep down.

A gentle hand of the force, picked them up, closed their minds and carried them to a plateau so high they could see the entire planet for miles around them. They are together once more, laying side by side on the ground unaware as yet. Their force abilities returned to them, there sense of awareness awoken, stirring their minds and instilling serenity across their souls. It is a euphoric feeling of bliss, their minds so much so that nothing, not one bad thought, would have place there. They are ignorant of evils, of knowledge of such bad doings it would be impossible for them to imagine them.

Abaigeal stirred from her 'slumber', and stretched her body as if she had been sleeping. She turned to see Connor next to her and smiled, all knowledge of what had been befalling them removed and she sat up just looking around marveling at the view. She did not want to disturb Connor, but she is happy to be in his presence, to see him well.

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[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

”Well…w- well?” Connoer mumbled. Dry mouthed.

He opened his eyes, but was facing upwards, looking at the sky again; peaceful. He was just speaking to Iella, wasn’t he? He was asking questions and posing theories and…well, he’d obviously fallen asleep again.

Resigning himself to however it would take for him to crack this strange puzzle, he laced his hands on his chest and lay there, looking up and breathing peacefully. It would end when he was ready for it to end; or when the greater Force knew it was time for this journey to end. There was no rush; he was quite relaxed and calm – and not alone.

Connor’s eyes darted right at black tendrils snaking into his peripheral vision, but he sighed with relief at the shock. It was Abaigeal’s hair blowing in the wind of the high altitude where they were.

”I would ask how you got up here, but that would only confuse things so I’ll just accept you got here as quickly as that.”

He shifted slightly to get comfortable on his back, looking up and listening to nothing but a gentle breeze.

”Where did you get to then? I was here waiting all on my own and you vanish. How rude.” A teasing little smile cracked on his lips.

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Her face turned from the beautiful scene before her to the man beside her. "Rude indeed, I called out to you", she smiled, it all seemed so irrelevant now. "Have you ever felt this peaceful before? how could there be anything bad in the galaxy. I think I shall stay here forever, I don't want to leave".

She turned to him more urgent, "I mean why? why go back? what is there for us? nothing, that's what. When we can stay here and just .. be". Her mind had become so full of serenity it was like a drug. "They don't understand, they don't know .. this", her arm waved out to the planet of the force to illustrate her point. "They, the Jedi, live their lives fooling themselves they are peaceful, that they know what peace is and how to achieve it, but here in this place it tells me that they are looking for the impossible out there, in the cesspit of the galaxy when peace is here, all the time it is here".

"Connor lets stay".

Her mind clouded over, as if a mist formed in the recesses and shrouded everything, removing all sense of knowledge or the need to acquire it. It was like a paradise presented to them, just the two of them and they could both live together free and able to be or do anything they liked. "Isn't it enough?". No .. it is not, there is more..

As the mists swirled around her mind, Abaigeal began to fight it. Deep within her she still clung to reality .. No, this is not enough there is love, there is life. This is no life, this place is dead.

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[member="Connor Harrison"]​

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Spoiler

apologies for the late reply!

 

[Connor Harrison]

Sitting up, Connor kept looking at her during her moment of decisive joy and then dwindling doubt.

”Abaigeal, listen – you’ve always got a choice, even in a place like this. If you want something enough, you will find a way to get it.”

He sat up on the pinnacle, the planet below them almost watching the two figures up above. He reached out and took her hand in both of his.

”We can stay here, together, and find what we were meant to be and finally accept what we are. Start a fresh, and build a culture and society on our morals and acceptance of the Force. OR we can accept this is just an illusion – that we don’t want to accept having an easy ride, and that we are in control of where we are and what we do, and the Force is nothing but a guide, not a way of life.”

Connor didn’t break eye contact as it was clear she was wrestling with the concept of reality and dreams. To Connor, this was a dangerous blend of both.

”If you push yourself to believe you are in control, then you will be in control and you will find a way. We will find a way. There’s no way out for us unless we can break that hold that draws us back. Let it go.”


OOC:

Spoiler

....forgiven!

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

.. illusions ...

Abaigeal turned to Connor, "Are you an illusion too?", nothing remained static in this place. In the back of her mind, she knew he was right, she clung to his words and used them to pull her mind back to the 'reality' of it all. Serenity was not found here, it was not be found anywhere .. it did not exist. Thank the force for that!

To live in complete bliss, it to not live at all. Why would one want it? peace she could understand, on all its levels of which there are many but that too is something that they must realise is to be a goal to reach, but will never do so. It is not how the galaxy works, it is not how life works. But one must want it, or else why live? Love is the same, something every changing, layers shifting and only the strong will be able to love with conditions. But can that be reached as well? there is no such thing as unconditional love, not in sentient beings anyway .. we are not a base element living on instinct alone where the only contact with others it to kill, or fight or mate.

She abruptly stood up, "Yes lets get out", but how...

Suddenly an overpowering sense of sadness filled her, the ground fell as if an elevator and plummeted to the planet floor below. Abaigeal screamed, but not from the fall, but the feeling of loss. She did not understand it at first, she had been through the pain of loosing her mother, but this more the same. Connor had vanished again, as much as she looked around for him, she could not see him. She knew he had not left her behind this was something else, something else playing with them.

Abaigeal turned around, something was behind her. And before her eyes she saw a scene of a hospital wing, a room with many people in it all gathered around a bed .. someone laying there injured and barely clinging to life. Abaigeal's heart filled with pain, as she approached she tried to stop her feet from walking closer but could not. The people in the room, she did not recognise, parted to reveal [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] all in white and still .. her chest the only sight that she lived.

She is dying ...

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[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"], [member="Connor Harrison"]


Siobhan lay there in a bed, all dressed in white and ashen-faced. Her face was deathly pale, which made her resemble a corpse. Moreover, the lines on her face made it look like she had aged a lot. What was most striking, however, was how tired she looked.


As a matter of fact, it seemed like she was already standing at the gate to the void. Her breathing was very slow, the only movement and indeed the only sign that she was still alive was the slight heave of her chest.


Harmony was seated next to her bedside and holding on to her hand. The maiden stroked it gently, but Siobhan did not react. The girl brushed away her tears with a tissue, but there were always more. However, as Aba entered the hospital room Siobhan seemed to stir, if only slightly. "Aba...is...that you?" she spoke haltingly, as if she hadn't said a word in ages. Her voice was weak and tired.